{"id":114121,"date":"2015-03-05T20:42:08","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T03:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/federal-study-more-data-needed-on-fracking-and-water\/"},"modified":"2015-03-05T20:42:08","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T03:42:08","slug":"federal-study-more-data-needed-on-fracking-and-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/federal-study-more-data-needed-on-fracking-and-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal study: More data needed on fracking and water"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A machine mixes sand and water, left, before it is pumped underground during a hydraulic fracturing operation at an Encana Corp. well pad near Mead. A recent U.S. Geological Survey study found that more data is needed to analyze the impact fracking has on water quality.<\/span>Brennan Linsley\/Associated Press file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A study released Tuesday by the U.S. Geological Survey found a lack of data available relative to impacts to water quality in areas where fracking is prevalent.<\/p>\n

It pointed out that there is not a national water-quality monitoring program in place that focuses on gas and oil development, so more data and research is necessary to better understand the potential risks to water quality.<\/p>\n

Lachelt, a Democrat and longtime energy industry observer, recently co-chaired a task force appointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper to examine potential legislation governing the natural-gas and oil industry, with a heavy focus on fracking.<\/p>\n

The task force advanced nine modest recommendations, including beefing up the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates the industry in Colorado. In addition, the task force made recommendations around local and urban planning as it relates to the industry; local input on wells; and certain health, environment and nuisance issues.<\/p>\n

But the task force stopped short of expanding local government authority to create rules and regulations that overstep the state.<\/p>\n

Lachelt said industry health and environment issues shouldn\u2019t focus solely on fracking.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I\u2019ve said all along, much too much emphasis has been placed on fracking and not on the entire oil and gas process,\u201d Lachelt said.<\/p>\n

Some environmentalists blame fracking for causing pollution and health hazards. Fracking employs pressurized water mixed with sand and chemicals to break open natural-gas and oil deposits underground.<\/p>\n

Researchers say a lack of water-quality data impedes long-term analysis of watersheds with gas and oil development.<\/p>\n

Lachelt said a host of factors should be taken into consideration, including the construction of waste storage pits, as well as the chemicals used in fracking fluids. Colorado mandates the disclosure of some frack fluid ingredients, but stops short of requiring the release of trade secrets.<\/p>\n

The USGS study points out that contaminants can enter surface or groundwater through leakage from storage pits or pipes, losses from pond overflows, and spills during transport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just thousands and thousands of cases of pits contaminating,\u201d Lachelt said. \u201cAll pits leak. It\u2019s not a matter of if, it\u2019s a matter of when.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A machine mixes sand and water, left, before it is pumped underground during a hydraulic fracturing operation at an Encana Corp. well pad near Mead. A recent U.S. Geological Survey study found that more data is needed to analyze the impact fracking has on water quality.Brennan Linsley\/Associated Press file photo A study released Tuesday by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[94,738,13,221,668],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-114121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-environmental-issue","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-gas-and-oil","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114121"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=114121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}